


no lack of love

by grapalicious



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Friendship, Multi, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-15
Updated: 2015-02-15
Packaged: 2018-03-12 22:30:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3357626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grapalicious/pseuds/grapalicious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Feuilly might be aromantic but he suspects he's probably the only one of his friends with any sense about what to do for Valentine's Day. </p><p>His friends aren't hopeless romantics so much as just plain hopeless.</p>
            </blockquote>





	no lack of love

**Author's Note:**

> I so was not planning on writing any Valentine's Day fic but somehow this happened today. I didn't spend a whole lot of time going over it so I apologize for mistakes!

Feuilly remembers with vivid clarity the one Valentine's Day he actually spent in a relationship with someone. 

He'd sort of accidentally fallen into a relationship with her in the first place after becoming friends with her and being too nice to say no when she'd asked him out.

Throughout his life, he'd never been interested in dating or romance but that didn't mean he was cold or incapable of love. Although he'd dated a couple times, he found he had no desire to be in a relationship and was more than content with the friendships in his life.

But he ended up dating this girl and Valentine's Day came around and he'd all but forgotten about it until he had eight hours left until the 14th. So he rushed to the store and bought a plethora of overpriced, commercialized gifts and presented them to her with a smile and a kiss.

And then she promptly ditched him and hung out with her best friend for the rest of the day with no warning or explanation, leaving him feeling slightly abandoned and used. All in all, it wasn't his favorite Valentine's Day.

Last Valentine's Day was his favorite, actually, when him and his friends all holed up in Enjolras and Combeferre's apartment and watched cheesy movies together. There was a bit too much tension in the air that night though because that was before most his friends started dating and shacking up with each other.

He's not sure what any of his friends have planned this year and he's a bit curious to find out.

*

*

He runs into Grantaire walking down the sidewalk carrying two full shopping bags.

"Grocery shopping?" he asks. 

"Uh, Valentine's shopping," says Grantaire somewhat sheepishly.

Feuilly raises his eyebrows at the bags.

"It's chocolate," Grantaire grumbles.

"There's no way Enjolras can eat all that chocolate," Feuilly says slowly.

Grantaire sighs and shrugs awkwardly, weighed down by the shopping bags.

"I was at the store and I decided to get Enjolras some chocolate for Valentine's Day," he explains. "Just chocolate because it's easy and simple. You can't mess up with chocolate, right? But then I realized I didn't know what kind of chocolate Enjolras likes best and so I ended up getting milk chocolate and dark chocolate and darker chocolate and white chocolate and one of those chocolate orange things and-"

"Take a breath," Feuilly interrupts. He waits until Grantaire sucks in a big breath if air and continues. "Return all the chocolate."

Grantaire frowns at him.

"Ask him what kind he likes," Feuilly says.

Grantaire nods attentively.

"Buy him that."

*

*

After his run in with Grantaire, Feuilly decides he needs to track down Enjolras.

Enjolras is, no surprise, furiously working at his laptop, while intermittently typing on his phone.

Now, Feuilly knows his friends, and he knows that Enjolras doesn't care much for mass marketed holidays that feed into capitalism. But he also knows that Enjolras values the relationships in his life. If he thinks it will make his friends, or in this case his boyfriend, happy, no doubt he's done the research and put the effort in.

"You have Valentine's Day plans?" 

"Yes," he answers.

"You micromanaged the entire day, didn't you?"

Enjolras looks at him like he wants to lie but knows he can't successfully hide anything from Feuilly. "Yes," he admits.

"Everything you have planned for the fourteenth? Delete it."

"Everything?"

"Delete it."

Enjolras' finger hovers over the phone screen as he frowns at it and then Feuilly watches him tap and delete all his plans for the fourteenth.

"Now what?"

"Call R, ask him what kind of chocolate he likes, and get it for him."

"That's it?"

"That's it," Feuilly confirms.

Enjolras gives him a relieved smiled and dials Grantaire's number.

*

*

Joly's panicking.

Which isn't new or really a surprise because Joly has a habit of panicking about some parasite or bacteria or another on a daily basis, but Feuilly sees those all the time and he can tell this isn't one of those panics.

"What's wrong?" he asks.

Joly glances around like he's afriad someone might eavesdrop.

"Valentine's Day is horrible. I bought Musichetta a bracelet. And I bought Bossuet a watch. Only Bossuet's watch cost more than Musichetta's bracelet did and I felt bad for spending more on him so I went and bought Musichetta a necklace too. But that didn't even it out, so I had to buy Bossuet something else and now it's spiraled out of control." Joly looks a few seconds away from tipping his hair out.

"How out of control?"

"I've spent $800."

Feuilly whistles lowly. "Okay, here's what you're going to do: take it all back. Everything except for the watch and the bracelet."

That night he calls up Bossuet and he calls up Musichetta and he tells them each that one gift per significant other is enough.

"Cliché as it sounds," he explains over the phone, "it really is the thought that counts. And you don't have to overthink it just because you're dating two people."

*

*

"I'm thinking about breaking up with Felicite," Bahorel tells him as they're sharing a drink.

A frown tugs at Feuilly's lips. "I thought things were going good between you two?"

"They are. But she's, I don't know, happy all the time."

"And that's a bad thing?" Feuilly asks, feeling lost.

Bahorel shrugs his shoulders. "She's _always_ happy, Feuilly. How am I supposed to know if she's actually happy being with me or if that's just her natural state?"

"Well, it's probably a good sign that she doesn't seem _unhappy_ when she's with you," Feuilly points out.

"I guess," grumbles Bahorel.

"Look, are you happy being with her?"

"Yeah."

"Do you really want to break up with her?"

"Not really."

"Then don't mess up what could be a good thing, dude. Asks her how she feels if it's bothering you so much."

He nudges Bahorel in the shoulder. "And don't be the dick that breaks up with a girl right before Valentine's Day."

*

*

In the middle of having lunch with Éponine, she confesses to him, "I don't know what to get Combeferre for Valentine's Day."

Feuilly thinks about it for a minute. "Well, what's he getting you?"

"I told him not to get me anything."

"Why?"

"I don't want anything."

He studies her. "Do you really not want anything? Or did you just tell him that?"

Éponine bites at her lip. She might have trouble explaining but Feuilly doesn't need her to. He gets it. He understands that sometimes it's just hard to ask for things.

"I don't need anything," she amends.

"But you maybe kinda want something?"

"I-" she breaks off and huffs. "Okay, it's silly, and don't laugh at me, but I wouldn't mind one of those stupid Valentine's stuffed animals. They're just- big and fluffy and cute. But I don't need one so it doesn't matter."

"Okay," says Feuilly, letting it go for now because he knows better than to start an argument with Éponine. "Did Combeferre give any hints to what you could get him?"

Éponine rolls her eyes. "No. He said not to get him anything."

"Ah."

"And I have to get him _something_."

"Right, you can't think of something he might possibly want?"

Éponine furrows her brow in thought. "Socks?"

Feuilly's going to have to see the other half of this equation.

*

*

To say that he accosts Combeferre would be an exaggeration, but Feuilly does march purposefully to his usual spot in the library and demands, "What are you getting Éponine for Valentine's Day?"

Combeferre blinks at him confusedly for a minute before he says, "She told me she doesn't want anything."

"So you're not getting her anything?"

Combeferre hesitates. "No?" 

Sighing, Feuilly says, "She likes those cheesy Valentine's stuffed animals. The bigger, the better."

Combeferre nods seriously.

"What do you secretly want for Valentine's Day?" Feuilly asks him, cutting to the chase because Combeferre appreciates when things are straightforward.

"I really don't want anything."

"You can't think of anything you might want? Or need?"

"Socks?"

Feuilly is about to face-palm , but then he straightens. "Actually, that might work."

*

*

Feuilly's honestly surprised it took so long for Courfeyrac to come knocking at his door with a frantic look on his face.

Courfeyrac doesn't even bother with pleasantries. "I know you don't do the holding hands and dating thing, but you still do the sexy stuff right?"

"Sometimes, yeah," Feuilly says, besmused. "Why?"

"I did something stupid," Courfeyrac moans, taking a seat on the couch. "I told Jehan that for Valentine's Day maybe we should 'spice things up'. I don't even know what that means, I just thought it sounded sexy."

Feuilly takes that information in. "And how did Jehan react to that?"

"I don't know!" Courfeyrac lifts his hands in a dramatic gesture. "I ran out before he could say anything. What if he thinks I was unsatisfied before or something? Or what he thinks I want whips and handcuffs now because I'm not sure if I'm ready for that. Oh god, what have I done?"

An incoming message sound alerts Feuilly and he glances down at his phone to see a text from Jehan that reads, _"Do you have any idea what 'spice things up' means? Like trying Indian food?"_

"How about you go buy some flowers. Jehan likes flowers. Then go talk to him and maybe the two of you can work out together what 'spice it up' entails."

Courfeyrac hugs him and proclaims him a life saver.

*

*

Cosette's a lovely girl, but Feuilly hasn't had many one-on-one conversations with her.

She hasn't been around too long, for one thing. Marius introduced her a few months ago after they started dated. They still seem to be in the honeymoon stage because they rarely ever leave each other's side.

Today, however, she's alone when she comes into the café. Feuilly smiles at her and invites her to sit with him after she orders a coffee.

"Got anything special planned for Valentine's Day?"

Cosette looks mildly surprised and says, "Oh, yeah, that's soon, isn't it?"

"Did you forget?"

"Maybe."

"Really? It's kind of hard to ignore when half the buildings are decorated pink with hearts for the whole month."

"I don't get out much," she defends. Then she lifts one shoulder. "Also, I think it's kind of a ridiculous day to begin with."

"Why is that?"

"We don't need a special day to tell people we love them. We should be doing that every day."

"I like that."

"I want my Valentine's Day with Marius to be like any other day. I don't need any grand gestures or fancy restaurants or anything."

Feuilly gives her a high five.

*

*

Marius comes to him grinning excitedly not too long after Feuilly says goodbye to Cosette.

"Hey," Feuilly greets him, "what do you have planned for Valentine's Day?" He suspects that time will never make the loving smile fade from Marius' face.

"I'm going to take Cosette out to dinner and ask her to marry me."

Feuilly freezes.

He spends the next twenty minutes convincing Marius that it might not be the best idea.

*

*

On the fourteenth Feuilly sleeps in. He catches up on housework. He reads a couple chapters of a book he hasn't picked up in months.

His thoughts drift to his friends and he wonders if any of them ever got their shit together. If he had to bet money, he'd place a thousand dollars that they're all still scrambling for what to do today.

Finding his phone, he sends out a group text and isn't sure if he should be shocked or completely unimpressed by how quickly he receives replies.

Within an hour, his tiny apartment is cramped with all of his friends. Feuilly gets tackle-hugged by Bahorel, cheek kisses from Coirfeyrac and Cosette, and no less than six chocolate boxes and a flower bouquet shoved into his arms.

Everyone climbs over each other to find places to sit as Eponine and Jehan pass around takeout containers.

"What do you guys want to watch?" Courfeyrac asks, looking through DVDs for something to put on Feuilly's ancient TV.

" _How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days_!" comes the immediate answer from Bahorel.

"I only have that on VHS and _somebody_ broke my VCR when they were drunk and tried to use it as a toaster."

"Sorry," chorus Bossuet and Grantaire simultaneously.

"Do you have anything with Sandra Bullock?" Eponine asks.

"I have _everything_ with Sandra Bullock," replies Feuilly.

It takes eight games of rock-paper-scissors before they decide which movie to put on first.

They're all settled comfortably, Enjolras and Grantaire munching on chocolate, Éponine hugging a giant teddy bear, Bahorel and Felicite giggling quietly with each other, and Feuilly thinks this might top last year's get-together.

"Let's do this every Valentine's Day," says Cosette happily, pressed against Marius' side.

No one has any objections.


End file.
